Brady was born in Vermillion, South Dakota, one of five children of William F. and Nancy A. Brady. His father, a lawyer, was killed in 1967 in a courtroom shooting in Rapid City when Brady was 12 years old. His mother was left to raise five children by herself. Student body president and a four-sport athlete, Brady graduated from Rapid City Central High School in 1973. Working his way through college holding a variety of jobs—construction worker, meat packer, manufacturing worker, waiter, and bartender—Brady earned a degree in mass communications from the University of South Dakota in Vermillion,[1] where he played varsity baseball, served in the student government association and became a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity. In 2005 he was named a Distinguished Alumnus of the university, and in 2001 was a recipient of the Order of Achievement by the national Lambda Chi Alpha organization.

A chamber of commerce executive at the Rapid City Area Chamber of Commerce, Brady was elected to the Rapid City Common Council at age 26. In 1982 he moved to Texas to work for the Beaumont Chamber of Commerce and later the South Montgomery County Woodlands Chamber of Commerce.

Brady began his Texas political career in 1990 when he was elected to the Texas House of Representatives, representing The Woodlands, parts of Montgomery County, and five other counties west and north of Houston.

Incumbent Republican U.S. Congressman Jack Fields of Texas' 8th congressional district decided to retire. Brady decided to run and ranked second in the Republican primary with 22% of the vote in a six candidate field. But the candidate who ranked first, Dr. Gene Fontenot, received just 36% of the vote, short of the 50% threshold.[2] In the run-off election, Brady defeated him 53%–47%.[3] However, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Bush v. Vera that three congressional districts in Texas were unconstitutional.[4] After holding hearings, the court concluded that there was no longer time to hold primaries and instead forced all candidates (Democrats and Republicans) be listed together on the November general election ballot in a jungle primary. If no candidate reached 50%, a special runoff would be held on December 10 between the two highest ranking candidates regardless of political party. In the November election, Brady ranked first with 41% of the vote.[5] In the December run-off election, he defeated Fontenot again 59%–41%.[6]

1998–2008

During this time period, he never won re-election with less than 67% of the vote.[7]

For the first time since 1998, Brady was challenged in the Republican primary. Three candidates filed against him. He defeated all of them in the March primary with 79% of the vote.[8] He won re-election with 80% of the vote.[9] In the May 2012, Republican primary in a newly-redrawn district he defeated his challenger with 76% of the vote. In the November 6, 2012 general election he defeated his Democratic opponent with over 77% of the vote.

2014

In the Republican primary on March 4, Brady easily won re-nomination to a tenth term in the U.S. House. He polled 41,549 votes (68 percent) to 19,508 (32 percent) for his intraparty challenger, Craig McMichael.[10]

In the General election held November 4, 2014 Brady was easily re-elected to his seat in the U.S. House. He polled 124,897 votes (89.32 percent) to 14,930 (10.67 percent) for his challenger, Ken Petty.[11]

As a senior member of the Ways and Means Committee he has chaired the Trade Sub-Committee and, beginning this year, became chairman of the Health Sub-Committee which places him in the center of congressional debate on Medicare and President Obama's new health care law. He was also recently tapped to lead the Energy Working Group as the committee pursues comprehensive tax reform in 2013.

In 2002, Rep. Brady voted in favor of the authorization of force against the nation of Iraq.

In 2004 he led the successful effort to restore the sales tax deduction, which had been eliminated in 1986. Brady has been a leader on free trade within Congress, serving as President George W. Bush's point man on the successful passage of the Central America Free Trade Agreement and the recent agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama. However, he is best known as the author of a federal "sunset law" that would require every federal program not specifically written into the Constitution to justify its existence to taxpayers within 12 years or face elimination.[12] He has introduced this bill at the beginning of every Congress. It was approved overwhelmingly by the House as an amendment in 2004 but did not progress further. In 2006 it passed the Government Reform Committee but did not reach a floor vote.

Brady is the Chairman of the U.S. House-Senate Joint Economic Committee, the third Texan to lead the committee (Sen. Lloyd Bentsen and Rep. Wright Patman). Brady and his staff developed the "Organizational Chart of the House Democrats Health Plan", the complex chart that showed the creation of at least 31 new federal agencies, commissions and mandates included in the America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009. He has also called on Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to step down, citing rising unemployment, exaggerated stimulus job claims, unsustainable debt and "failed economic policies" of the Obama administration.

Recently he has introduced three major pieces of legislation: The MAP Act which shrinks the size of the federal government, abolishes obsolete agencies, establishes a line item-veto for each President and permanently ends the threat of a future government shutdown; the Sound Dollar Act which reforms the Federal Reserve(see below)and most recently the Centennial Monetary Commission which creates a bi-partisan commission to examine the Federal Reserve Bank's effectiveness and role over the first 100 years of existence and make Legislative recommendations for its second century of existence.

Brady's district was hit hard by Hurricane Rita and again by Hurricane Ike, and he has helped lead the Texas recovery effort in the House for both disasters. In 2011, in the interim redistricting map approved by a San Antonio federal court, the 8th District lost seven counties in east and southeast Texas and gained all or part of six counties going north toward Dallas.

Brady lives in The Woodlands, a suburb of Houston with his wife Cathy and two young sons (Will and Sean).[19] He is an original Hometown Hero of The Woodlands awarded by Interfaith-of-The Woodlands, a Paul Harris Fellow in The Woodlands Rotary Club and a member of Saints Simon & Jude Catholic Church. He and his family did not move to Washington, D.C. and he continues to commute from Texas to work in Congress each week.[citation needed]

On October 7, 2005 Brady was arrested and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol while in South Dakota to accept a distinguished alumni award. He was returning from a reception with his mother, wife, sister, and brother-in-law in the car when it was pulled over for a non-working tail light. He faced a fine of up to $1,000 and a year in jail. He pleaded no contest. Upon his misdemeanor conviction on November 8, he was fined $350, and his right to drive in South Dakota was suspended for 30 days. Before his sentencing, Brady had stated that "no one is above the law" and he would accept "every consequence" of his actions, even if that meant a jail sentence. "To me, regardless of how this turns out, what it says is that you don't get behind the wheel." [20]